Chivalry Choked by Women's Hands

 Omar Ojeda, staff writer

My opinion for this edition is going to be a little out-dated, since it refers to a previous issue of the Plainsman Press.

It is a response to the Man-on-the-Street question, “Do you think chivalry is dead? Why or why not?” Since I am on the staff, I am not allowed to be interviewed or questioned. But there are loopholes in everything, and because of that I am still able to voice my opinion.

I think chivalry is dead…and women killed it. For those of you who don’t know the definition of chivalry, I’m going to tell you. Chivalry originated in the Dark Ages when knights existed. It deals with rules, virtues, and courtesies within knighthood. The definition we know today is the respect and courtesy that men have or are supposed to have toward women. For example, opening and closing the car door, lending a jacket when someone is cold, giving up your seat so they can be comfortable…just being a gentleman all around, basically.

I’m not saying that chivalry is completely obsolete, but it has been dramatically reduced over a short period of time. The reason, or one of the reasons, I think that women are to blame for the death of chivalry is because in recent years, they have become more independent and want to be treated equally. So to those strong feminists, being treated as a lady literally offends them. They have the misconception that being treated with chivalry is just a way men try to undermine them as being inferior and insinuate that they cannot do anything for themselves, but it’s really just a way a man is supposed to treat women.

Another reason why chivalry is hardly around anymore is because men are more under appreciated these days. When we try to do a little something special for a significant other, sometimes it leads to disappointment on their part, or it’s just not good enough for them. That’s why, in recent years, the divorce rate has gone up and will continue to rise, because men can’t keep women satisfied. Nothing ever seems good enough for some of them.

I know it’s a wonderful thing that women want to be independent, but the truth is they still need men. The effect of this is that men want to treat women like they should be treated whether they want to be or not. Maybe we are just old fashioned and should get used to times changing, but it’s sad that our values and virtues change along with unpredictable times and uncommon lifestyles.